Newly confirmed COVID-19 cases are once again on the rise across the United States, which could be the initial sign of a fifth wave of related infections and deaths. The timing is particularly inappropriate, as millions of Americans prepare to gather for Thanksgiving. While the virus insurgency never hit everywhere at once, the holidays do.
Like the early days of the second, third and fourth waves, a sudden drop in cases does not bode well when it lasts more than a week. For five of the past seven days, the weekly rotating average of new cases, which is resistant to daily fluctuations in reporting, has been higher than the day before.
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The brand flattens the curve after an extended decline in a pandemic’s extended two-month cycle often heralds a spike. The unwelcome reversal comes just 16 days after cases dropped below levels we saw this time last year, as a devastating third wave of the pandemic was on the rise. Meanwhile, deaths – often about two weeks later than cases – are still slightly higher than 2020 cases compared to the same period last year.
The strongest hope that this could be a false alarm – and as always, I hope I’m wrong – is that the current clip may be the last gasp of the fourth wave, not the introduction of the next section. During the summer, cases flare up in both the South and Upper Northwest, often resulting in infections and deaths that reach or exceed January’s dire numbers. Meanwhile, every state currently experiencing increased cases is still posting numbers below last winter’s record levels — or, in the case of New Hampshire and Vermont, hitting new all-time highs. in this week. The ever-undulating COVID-19 belt currently stretches from Maine to Minnesota and all the way to Arizona, while areas that posted record numbers in August and September remain relatively dormant.
2021 is not supposed to be like this. When the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was first rolled out in the US on December 14, it promised a foreseeable end to what was thought to be like an eternal bait. That hope precedes the rise of the Delta variant, but it is also predicted by two assumptions: the majority of adults will get vaccinated as soon as possible, and that we can endure existence in a state of paralysis. closed just long enough for that to happen.
The rapid mutation of this new virus could not be prevented, and vaccine procrastination (and “disease”) was deemed inevitable. As for reacting first and retreating upon reopening, I’d be guessing that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s order of May 13 frees people who are fully immunized from wearing Masks in many situations will not be considered properly by the history books.
Those books cannot be written until the United States and the world begin the two-month cycle. This doesn’t mean total seclusion at a time when the economy is in dire need of participation. That means safety protocols will need to revert to those used in the pre-pandemic days — as long as the data is anywhere close to or worse than a year ago.
